Friday 22 April 2011

Daffodils in my garden

Just a couple of  pictures that I shot today:







Willam Wordsworth´s famous poem "Daffodils" might be a suitable companion:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

 
Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.


The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
in such a jocund company:
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought:


For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Thursday 21 April 2011

Nicolai Ghiaurov sings "Ella giammai m´amo"


Bulgarian bass Nicolai Ghiaurov (born 1929) sings "Ella giammai m'amo" from Verdi´s Don Carlo.

The AMG Allmusic Guide to Classical Music describes his voice in this way:

During his prime, his voice was among the richest and most sonorous basses of the twentieth century, and even as much of its freshness and bloom was gone toward the end of his career, it retained its expressiveness and technical excellence.
I hope you enjoy his singing as much as I do!